


I Wish I Loved You Back

by reink_8



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Bad-centric, Bittersweet Ending, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, No beta we die like Roberto, No real names, Other characters show up for a second, Poor Bad, Rat is adorable, Skeppy is oblivious, Skeppy is stubborn, Slow Burn, Sort Of, hanahaki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28474749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reink_8/pseuds/reink_8
Summary: Bad got a really bad cough. Though, he supposes that puking flowers shouldn't be apart of a cough.He notices that they only start up when he speaks to Skeppy. Speaking of, was Skeppy's voice always so attractive?
Relationships: Skeppy/Badboyhalo, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 72
Kudos: 279





	1. Chapter 1

Bad reached over with his mouse, hovering over the ' _live_ ' button. Before he was able to press it a little bark interrupted him.

The tiny dog wagged her tail and jumped up onto Bad's lap. "Oh I'm sorry Rat, I forgot to feed you didn't I?" He snuggled his dog and smiled as she licked his face.

"Let's get some food in your belly." He picked up the light dog and carried her to the kitchen, who ruffed happily when they arrived. Bad carefully set her down on the floor and pat her head when she tried jumping back into his arms. "Hush silly, I can't pour food into your bowl if I'm holding you!" He exclaimed as if the dog could understand. 

Rat whined sadly at not being held anymore. Bad shook his head fondly at her antics and reached down and grabbed the bag of dog food. The little dog woofed happily at the realization of food, quickly running over with her tiny legs to her bowl. He smiled and poured the kebbles into the bowl. 

He put the food bag back into its place and walked to his room knowing that Rat was well fed.

As he walked up to his computer, he realized that he should tweet out before going live. He sat in his chair and whipped his phone out.

_'Going live on twitch! I hope to see you all on the stream :D'_

A little ding went off notifying him that his tweet sent out. The blonde sighed in contempt, mentally gearing himself up before going live.

On screen his avatar was running around his minecraft server. He smiled mischievously when he recalled what the stream was for. He looked over to the side bar where the viewers were located, a whopping ' _700_ ' was there. "Hey guys! Wow, you all came so fast." He picked up his phone. "Let me just add a discord notification so everyone can join in."

He quickly sent out a discord notification which stated that he was live, alongside a link, and put his phone back onto his desk.

' _No dream smp?_ ' he read as it popped up with the donation. "Thank you for the donation! And sorry, no SMP for today guys." His mood quickly lightened. "But I bet you're going to love today's stream! Today, we're going to prank Skeppy!"

He checked once again to the viewer amount, already past 1k views. His mischievous smile turned into fondness when he remembered the one who was responsible for his fame. How Skeppy got him to 100 thousand subscribers, and now he's at nearly 2 _million_. Would he have hit that many if it wasn't for Skeppy?

Bad shook his head and looked back to the screen, punching random blocks as he ran about. "My plan is so evil, so diabolical, and so mischievous that it's bound to work!"

The chat was filled with questions, asking what the prank could be and some even guessing what it is. Bad was about to talk, but he noticed a new donation and quickly read it out.

" _'Are you going to confess to Skeppy?'_ What?" Bad asked with a chuckle, "Thank you for the donation, but no. That's not the prank I have in mind." 

Would a prank about 'confessing his love' pan out? He quietly wondered how that would go. Surely his fans would love it, but what if it messed up his friendship with Skeppy? No, he wouldn't take that chance. Plus— he loves Skeppy, but he's not _in love_ with him!

A light blush settled on his face and he gave an annoyed puff. He looked back to the chat. Most of them were making some comment about skephalo or shipping.

"But I am going to prank him with something else!" Bad exclaimed, and the chat went quieter in response. "I'm going to... make a ducky world! Full of ducks!"

The chat roared, some saying it wasn't a prank and others commenting about how cute it is. "Ah ah, but there's a catch!" He quickly adds. "There's going to be _explosives_ in it."

"So while he's all like, ' _Oh Bad I love this new world it's amazing_ ' I'm going to be like 'Ha ha, boom! Get pranked!'"

The blonde mimicked Skeppy's voice as high pitched, and exaggerated his own as deep. He then let out an evil chuckle, which moreso sounded like a kid pretending to be evil but really was pure.

The chat seemed to like his idea. "I already had a team make the world for me, and of course I helped out and designed it — it took a few days but it'll be so worth it!"

His voice was clearly excited, and he swiftly pulled up discord on his side monitor. He texted his friend to come on teamspeak and already made his own. A minute went by before he received a reply from Skeppy.

Bad smiled, "Ok guys, he's going to come on. Ah I'm so excited!"

A low monotonous voice called out from his computer, " _User has joined your channel_ " Followed by a medium pitched raspy voice. "Hey Bad."

"Hi—" He quickly cut himself off. "Skeppy? You sound tired, are you alright?" His friend let out a tired yawn. "Yeah, I just woke up."

He felt his heart tug at his chest when Skeppy spoke in a raspy and deeper voice, but he was unsure why. Nevertheless he ignored the feeling and said, "Isn't it noon or something over there?"

"I was taking a naaaaaap." Skeppy said in his signature whine. Bad chuckled, "Well I'm streaming, and was wondering if I could show you something. But since you're tired..."

"Show me something?" Skeppy perked, tiredness gone from his voice. "What is it?"

"Well if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise!" He chuckled. "I'll send you the IP to join, you'll love it."

Bad joined the world and quickly sent the IP to Skeppy via text, and started running around waiting for his friend. It wasn't long before he joined.

He looked around. "Whaaaat?? What's this?!" Skeppy exclaimed, unaware as Bad gave him flying perms. The blonde giggled, "It's for you, silly!"

Skeppy went quiet, and Bad got nervous. Did he realize his plan? No, he couldn't have. Right?

His friend flew around when he realized he could, and looked around the map. It was similar to the theme park he made before, but this time it was ducky themed. There was a railroad that circled the entire map and the diamond avatar went to ride it. "This... this is amazing Bad." Skeppy laughed ecstaticly. "When did you have time to build this?"

"I had help." Bad mumbled, pleased that Skeppy liked his work. He shook his head and focused on the task at hand. After Skeppy finishes looking around, he'll bomb it. He looked over to the chat, realizing they were complimenting his work. His smile widened.

"Wait you said you were streaming?" Skeppy asked, teasing lining his tone of voice. "Is this another one of your 'pranks'?"

"Uuuh," Bad froze, but quickly adapted. "Yeah! I mean, no! I mean—"

He was cut off by the sound of his friend's laughter, and Bad's breath left him. His heart beat became louder, enough that he wondered if anyone else could hear it. He didn't realize he wasn't breathing until his lungs started to burn. His cheeks became warm, and he quickly shook off the feeling. It was unfair how lovely Skeppy's laugh sounded.

"Bad, thats cute." His friend teased, and he became even more flustered. "I don't think this really counts as a prank though. I love ducks!"

Bad sputtered, and quickly corrected his friend. "No, it is very much a prank! You just can't appriciate my awesome... prankness." He said defiantly, but his friend spoke again. "Is prankness even a word?"

"It's a word!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah uh!"

This went on for a few minutes, before both started giggling at the situation. Bad's giggle became mischievous, "So you like the server, then?"

His chat immediately recognized what he was about to do, half of them yelling to not blow up the server while the other half were telling him to do it. Bad was unsure which side was more considering the chat was going really fast.

"Like it? I love it!" Skeppy exclaimed, unaware of what was going to happen. "It's the best gift ever, even if it wasn't meant to be one."

Bad almost felt sorry for what he was about to do, but his pride and mischievousness won. He chuckled with an evil tone. "Good."

Skeppy went silent, most likely confused at his statement. While the diamond avatar was riding along the server on a minecart, Bad flew up to a hidden platform inside a duck statue that held TNT and a lever.

"Bad what—" Before Skeppy could finish, the click of a switch and a low hiss was heard. One of the ducks blew up, which created a chain reaction as the entire server started exploding. The explosives created a lag to the game, and Bad let out a small giggle. His chat was going crazy.

" _WHAT?!_ " Skeppy exclaimed, earning another giggle from Bad. "Why are you _laughing_? Was this your prank?!"

The blonde continued giggling as the server was destroyed. Skeppy continued, "All the duckies, no! Why would you do this?! Wait wait wait—"

Skeppy's voice turned to one of weariness and hesitance. "You created a backup, right?"

Bad halted, a smile coming across his face before he feigned ignorance. "Wait, what? Was I suppose to?"

"Were you— _yes Bad, you were!!_ " Skeppy screamed. Bad smiled and let out a "Whoops."

"WHOOPS?? THATS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?!"

Bad was trying really hard not to laugh at Skeppy's overdramatic reaction. He calmed down enough to say, "Oh it isn't that big of a deal, Geppy. It was just a silly server! It doesn't mean anything."

Skeppy went quiet, before mumbling, "You made it for me though." After a silence, Bad replied "Yeah? I did."

"Then it does mean something!" Skeppy exclaimed, surprising Bad. "It meant something to me. You took the time and effort to make it and now it's gone. Please tell me you actually have a backup."

His heart lurched. Now Bad was torn between continuing his prank, or telling Skeppy the truth. He looked over to his chat to see an overwhelming amount telling him to say the truth. A donation popped up that read, " _Omg pls have a backup._ "

He sighed, before nodding his head. "Yeah, I do."

"Wait, you do?" Skeppy asked.

"Mhmm." Bad mumbled, sad now that he couldn't continue his prank. Skeppy let out a dramatic sigh, "Thank god, for a second there I thought you really didn't have one."

Bad smiled, realizing that although it was finished he _did_ prank his 'unprankable' friend. Skeppy left the game and asked, "Can we go to the backup? I didn't get to see it all."

"Yeah sure!" Bad agreed, exiting the world and looked to his world list. He froze.

His silence didn't go unnoticed. "Bad? You there?" Bad's voice was small. "Uuuh... yeah."

"What did you do?" Skeppy asked knowingly. Bad let out a regretful sigh, before telling his friend, "Well... I apparently... didn't make a backup." He rushed out the last bit. Skeppy quickly replied, "What?!"

"Bad this isn't time for pranks," Skeppy stated. Bad winced. "But I'm not pranking anymore, the server is gone."

Skeppy went quiet and Bad felt horrible. His friend must be so upset now. How could he fix this? "I'm sorry Geppy."

"I know!" He heard Skeppy click his fingers. "We can rebuild the server!"

Bad deadpanned, "Just us? Build the server? Together? It'd take forever!"

Instead of sounding dramatically disappointed, Skeppy instead sounded excited. "I know! We can build it together as our own project! Maybe even let others join the server when it's finished."

The idea of building a server together with Skeppy made Bad's heart react. Again. He seriously needs to check out if he has heart problems. His face flushed again, annoyingly, and he didn't understand why.

Why would the prospect of working together with Skeppy make his heart race? Why does his face flush when Skeppy compliments his work? Why is it that when his friend laughs his lungs stop working and his heart beats loud enough he's sure the world could hear?

His breathing stopped again, and he let out a small cough. He frowned as his throat constricted and he had to cough again. He felt embarrassment and confusion when he realized something was stuck in his throat.

"Bad? Are you ok?" Skeppy asked. Bad almost forgot that his friend was on call with him. "Uhh," he coughed again, "Yeah! I just gotta—" a coughing fit interrupted him, and he realized he needed to get whatever's stuck in his throat out _now_.

Without thinking he ended the stream and left Skeppy's teamspeak. His coughing became worse, louder, and he ran to the bathroom. He realized he wouldnt make it to the toilet bowl so instead he went to the sink and continued coughing above it.

Instead of puking, like he thought he would, he coughed out a small thin object. He coughed out another, and another, before his sink was filled unknown objects.

Bad heaved, and breathed heavily above the sink. His eyes were closed shut as he coughed out the last clump of whatever was stuck in his throat. He looked down in confusion, and his face paled when he saw what he coughed up.

Flowers. Clumps of drool covered, small light blue flowers.


	2. Chapter 2

Bad stared in horror and awe at the flowers below him. Did he swallow a flower in his sleep? Multiple flowers?

The flowers themselves were pretty, if you disregarded the drool and saliva on them. Each clump was tiny, and held together by even smaller stems.

The blonde's awe and wonder turned into confusion. How did they end up in his throat? He couldn't recall swallowing any, he doubt he would have, so he racks his mind for any logical reason. Then, he remembered something. A medical reason for puking flowers.

Worried now that he was sick, he ran back to his computer after hesitantly bringing along the flowers — after swiftly rinsing them, of course. Bad sat down and went to close Minecraft but stopped. On screen, Skeppy's avatar was running around him. He checked and realized his friend was still in the teamspeak by himself, too.

He put his headphones on and joined the treamspeak. As soon as Bad joined the call, he heard Skeppy ranting, "I swear if he died— _Bad!!_

Hearing the genuine worry in his voice surprised Bad. "Hey, Geppy." His voice was raspy from coughing.

"Bad, where did you go? Are you ok?! Was that a prank? Because if it was a prank I'm _not_ impressed. I checked and you aren't even streaming anym—" He knew Skeppy would continue so he interrupted him.

"I'm okay." Bad said, wincing as his voice sounded like he's in the sahara desert. "I'm going to get some water."

He heard Skeppy's voice try to argue, but still Bad took off his headphones and muted his mic. He sat up and glanced at the flowers he laid out on his desk, ontop of a napkin. The blonde shook his head and went to the kitchen.

He passed Rat, who whined up at him with worry. "I'm ok girl." He softly states, patting her head before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. He went back to his room and closed the door so his dog wont get in. After sitting back down in his chair, he let out a soft sigh and put his headphones back on. Skeppy was mumbling with worry about him.

The blonde opened the water bottle and took a sip of water, before turning his mic back on. "I'm back."

"Stop leaving!" Skeppy exclaimed, and Bad felt guilty for leaving in the first place. He spoke up to defend himself, "But I was only getting some water."

He heard his friend sigh. "Bad, are you okay?" Before Bad could answer, Skeppy continued. "Are you _sure_ you're ok?"

Bad took another sip of water before answering. "Yes Skeppy, I'm fine." He looked over to the flower on his desk, wondering if he should tell his friend about it. He doesn't want to worry him though.

"Bad I'm serious— you were coughing up a storm and then suddenly left! Are you sick?"

He scratched his neck, unsure on how to answer. "I might be. I have some... symptoms, that I'm going to look up to find out what's wrong with me. If that doesn't work then I'll go to the doctor."

Skeppy didn't seem pleased, but agreed nontheless. Bad's heart clenched when he realized that Skeppy was only reacting this way because he cares about him. Because he's a good friend. 

The diamond avatar was punching at his character, not doing any damage due to both of them being in creative mode. Bad's heart felt heavy with guilt when he remembered that Skeppy stayed on the server, waiting for him this entire time.

Bad let out a small cough, and he felt a spike of fear. He quickly drank some more water. He asked, "Why did you stay?"

"Because you can always count on me, Bad. I'd never leave you."

His heart lurched, and his throat constricted. A coughing fit started up and he hunched over. He moved over to his mic and muted himself, but his friend already heard the start of it. "Bad? Are you okay?!"

He couldn't answer him, and it wasn't like Skeppy would hear him anyways. He coughed harder and felt something soft at the back of his throat. Bad's eyes widened as he realized what it was.

The blonde quickly grabbed a tissue from a nearby box of them before coughing into it. He coughed out a clump of small light blue flowers, covered once again in his drool. Bad's nose scrunched in disgust and he put them carefully atop of the desk. He wanted to throw them away but they might be valuable to learn why this was happening to him.

Skeppy was still in hysterics, and he felt bad for making his best friend worry so much. He took a couple gulps of water before unmuting himself again.

"I'm sorry Geppy, something was caught in my throat." Bad omitted, not exactly lying. Still, he felt guilty.

"You're definetly sick. Please go to a doctor or something." Skeppy begged, making Bad feel worse. He sighed, "I will. Sorry for making you worry, it's probably nothing serious." _probably_.

They talked for a bit, mainly Bad trying to cheer Skeppy up and to forget what happened earlier. He was getting tired though, courtesy of him staying up so late all the time. He let out a soft yawn. "I think I should get some sleep."

Skeppy whined, but relented. "Make sure to get that cough checked out, okay?"

Bad chuckled and agreed, both saying their goodbyes before leaving the teamspeak. Skeppy's avatar punched him a few more times before he left, Bad following suit.

He stretched his arms up and glanced over to the flowers on his desk. Letting out a sigh, he went to the internet. After searching for a bit about coughing up flowers, he noticed a recognizable name. The hanahaki disease.

He clicked on the article, dread filling his gut as he read through the text. 

' _The hanahaki disease is an illness for unrequited love. The person is in love with someone, and coughes up flowers when the other doesn't love them back or hasn't confessed back_.'

Love? Bad isn't in love with anyone, though. The only one he's been in contact with was—

Was Skeppy.

His stomach fluttered and his heart sped up, but at the same time he felt sick. He's in love with Skeppy? 

He couldn't deny it, it was the only logical thing that made sense. The blonde hasn't been on call with anyone other than Skeppy today, and he cares deeply for his best friend. But did that care turn into love? It was confusing.

And if he's coughing up flowers, does that mean Skeppy doesn't love him back?

His heart plummeted, but he ignored that. It wouldn't be fair of him to be upset at Skeppy afterall. Bad was the one who developed feelings for him.

He continued to read the article.

' _The flowers someone coughs up represents something about their loved one._ '

Bad glanced over to the tiny blue flowers. He wonders what they represent.

' _If left untreated, the illness will become fatal. The flowers grow in the occupant's lungs, and spread out the longer the person has the disease. Eventually the flowers will grow roots and kill the person from the inside out._ '

The blonde shuddered at the thought. There had to be a cure, right? He scrolled down to look for it, passing all the other paragraphs about how exactly the disease kills a person.

' _There are two cures. The first option being surgery, but can only be done without harm in the first few stages of the disease. The longer the occupant waits, the more likely the surgery won't work. If the surgery is done successfully, then the disease as well as the person's feelings towards their loved one will be removed._ '

Bad's heart clenched at the thought. He only just found out he loved Skeppy. What would change after the surgery? Would he cease to care at all for him? He didn't want to know.

' _The second option would be for the occupant to confess to their loved one. The flowers will stop growing and will eventually get out of the person's system without any harm. But if the loved one doesn't have feelings for the person back, it doesn't work._ '

So, he either stops loving Skeppy or confesses to him. Except the latter won't work if Skeppy doesn't love him back.

Bad puts his head into his hands and lets out a groan. Why did this happen to him? Is this karma for pranking Skeppy in the first place? He heard Rat scratching at his door as if she could feel his negative energy, but he ignored her. She let out a whine, trying a few more times before leaving him be.

After a few minutes he glances back to his monitor. He frowns, before searching in the search bar, ' _Blue flowers_.

He scrolled through images, finding forget-me-nots and cornflowers. These aren't the same as his, though. Eventually he found one that looks strikingly similar.

"Blue hyacinth." He read aloud. Bad felt a small pit of dread in his stomach when he glanced between the image and what he coughed up. In the images, there were a _lot_ more flowers than what he coughed up in clumps. At least they didn't have thorns though.

He looked up what the meaning behind the flower meant, coming up with two main definitions; constancy and sincerity.

Bad searched up what the former meant. ' _The quality of being faithful and dependable_.' A fond smile appeared on his face. Yes, Skeppy was faithful and dependable. He was loyal, and Bad could always trust him.

A small cough interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly diverted his attention to something else. Thinking about Skeppy was a no-go. Sad as it was, he must refrain from thinking about his best friend. Even if it was hard.

His dog came back to scratch at the door, whining. He sighed with a small smile and got up from his chair. Bad walked over and opened his door. Rat looked up at him with her cute beady eyes before pawing at his legs.

"Awww, Rat." The blonde cooed, leaning down and picking her up. He scratched her neck and she nearly purred in contempt. "What am I going to do?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha angst go brr


	3. Chapter 3

It's been a couple days since the incident happened. Since Bad started coughing up flowers. He hasn't uploaded since then, and hasn't been in contact with Skeppy either— only talking over text and never spending time with him. Thankfully the flowers haven't been showing up.

Except whenever he would think too much of him. Or when he saw one of his tweets that made Bad smile fondly. His throat would constrict and he would quickly divert his attention and do something else.

He didn't expect Skeppy to be so stubborn and persistent, though. After denying Skeppy's fifth call ( _for the day!_ ) he wondered if it was worth puking up petals over his friend driving him insane.

Another call rang out through discord, Skeppy's signature logo on his phone screen. He let out a dramatic sigh. An idea popped in his mind, and he grabbed a coin. "Heads I answer, tails I ignore him again." He wasn't sure which one he wanted.

He flicked the coin and fate had it in for him, he's sure. The coin bounced and rolled before finally landing on heads.

Bad shook his head, deciding to listen to his destiny of torture and answer Skeppy's call.

"Baaaaad!" His friend whined. Bad felt like he hasn't talked to him in ages and his heart swelled. "Hey Geppy."

His friend hesitated. Bad was aware he didn't sound... the best. His voice was raspy and almost sickly, but one could ignore that with a few cups of water. He grabbed his water bottle and took a sip.

"Sorry my throat was dry." Bad stated. "What's up?"

"' _What's up?_ ' You ignore me for days, go dark on the internet, and that's your response?"

Bad winced. He wasn't going dark or anything dramatic like that. "That's not— I'm not..." For some reason, he couldn't formulate words correctly. He recalled what the flowers were for, and why he's sick in the first place. A light blush settled on his cheeks.

"Are you okay Bad? Like, seriously." Skeppy interrupted his thoughts. Oh, right. That's what they were talking about. Not at all about how _he has a crush on his best friend_ , no sir'ee. Nothing going on there.

"Mhmm!" Bad hummed, face still warm. "I uh— I was actually going to stream now!"

He has no clue where that came from. But Skeppy seemed pleased with it, so Bad didn't take it back. A horrible idea that he would soon regret came to his mind. "We can play something together?"

Before Bad could think twice, Skeppy immediately agreed. "Yes! How about the ghost game?"

"But Geppy, that's a spooky game."

"Yup!"

Bad sighed fondly, before nodding with a smile. "I'll go over to my computer." He heard his friend let out a small hooray which made him giggle. His throat tightened and he quickly ended the call. He tried to ignore it, but it became a coughing fit.

A few minutes later, he threw away the blue flowers that he coughed up and went to his computer. He stopped, deciding to put a trash can nearby and a box of tissues on his desk. Just in case.

Booting up his PC, and checking to make sure everything was in working order, he went onto the game Plasmaphobia. Skeppy already texted him the game code so he joined easily.

"You took forever!" Skeppy whined, making Bad laugh again. "Sorry!"

He widened the game so the code was hidden and then brought up twitch on his other monitor. "Okay Skeppy, I'm going to go live."

"Wait!" Skeppy exclaimed, and Bad halted curiously. "Will you have your face cam on?"

He noticed the hopeful tone in his friends voice and sighed. "Sorry, but no. I'm not feeling up to it today." He could have sworn he heard a sound of disappointment come from Skeppy.

Bad tweeted out about going live, as well as saying it in his discord, and then clicked the button. "Aaaand we're live! Now all we gotta do is wait."

"But waiting is borrriiinnngggg." Skeppy whined. "People take too looonnnnggg, let's just play!"

"But that's unfair to the rest of the viewers who want to get here before we start." Bad said sadly, but Skeppy intervened. "It'll still be recorded, they can watch it later. Come on! Please?"

Bad couldn't say no to his friend's adorable begging voice, and who over-dramatically made his voice all whiney. "Okay okay fine, you muffinhead." Skeppy made another adorable noise.

They ended up playing the school map, one that Bad wasn't too familiar with. He was more use to the house map. "Should I turn off my lights?"

"Oooh yes! I'll go turn mine off too." Skeppy stated, and Bad heard a shuffle from the call. He silently apologized to his future self before getting up and turning off the lights as well. When he came back, he saw that there were a lot of people on stream already.

"Hey guys!" Bad exclaimed, looking through the chat. Most seemed worried and asked nonstop questions of his disappearance for the past few days. "I wasn't feeling well, and I might be sick for a few days." The chat sent sad emojis and get well soon's as well. "But I'll still upload!" He quickly added.

Skeppy stayed unusually silent, and with the eerie sounds of the game it made everything more tense. He cleared his throat to gain his friend's attention, but before he could say anything he started coughing.

The blonde quickly chugged down water, coughing between gulps. The chat was worrying, and his friend had been asking if he was alright. "I'm okay! I uh, choked on my water. Silly me."

He probably didn't convince anyone but he diverted the subject. "So, what type of ghost are we dealing with?"

The ghost was named Karen, and as expected Skeppy started yelling her name as soon as they were inside the school. The duo continued to play for an hour, making fun of eachother and getting spooked. On more than one occasion they split up and one of them died without the other knowing.

"Hey Bad?" Skeppy asked. Bad hummed in a questioning tone. "Will you end your stream soon?"

The blonde stretched. "Probably," a yawn interrupted his sentence. "I've been streaming for an hour or so. Maayybbeeee... 20 more minutes."

"But Baaaaaad." His friend whined. "I wanna work on... the _project_." Skeppy hushed in a whisper tone, as if it was a secret. The chat started spamming questions and Bad put his head in his hands. Curse his friend for being so dramatic. "Fineee, we can work on our 'little project'. Bye stream, sorry for ending so early."

The blonde spent a couple more minutes saying goodbye to the stream before finally ending it. He sighed. "By project, you meant the server right?"

Skeppy hummed in agreement, not sounding sorry one bit for making him end his stream early. "Oh and, Bad? Did you get checked out by a doctor yet?"

Bad winced. He hadn't, since he knew why he was sick, but he couldn't tell his friend that. Otherwise the nosey muffinhead will start asking questions. Except, he couldn't lie very good. "Uhhhhh... I... yeah..?"

"Bad." Skeppy deadpanned. "Did you go see a doctor about your cough?"

The blonde sunk into his chair, "....no." He heard his friend sigh in disappointment. "Well you better go get it checked out soon."

"But I don't need to!" Bad blurted out without thinking, quickly slapping a hand over his face. Ugh, he's such a muffinhead! Skeppy was rightfully confused, "What do you mean? Do you know what you have?"

"It's uhhh..." The blonde started. Maybe he could lie of omission? Yeah that should be easy. "A small cough, nothing contagious."

His friend didn't seem convinced. "Oh yeah? Well how would you know that if you didn't go see a doctor?"

Bad whined, unsure what to do. Should he tell his friend? What if his friend doesn't like him back? Would Skeppy hate him?!

"I— I can't tell you!"

He wished he could crawl in a hole and die a slow painful death. He couldn't have been more obvious. The blonde put his head in his arms, silently chanting ' _Stupid, stupid, stupid..._ '

The longer Skeppy stayed silent, the more Bad felt horrible. He wanted to curl into a ball of shame and never see the light of day again. 

"I get it." Skeppy finally said, sounding very emotionless. Bad peaked up back to his monitor in confusion. Was his friend mad?

"You don't trust me."

Bad felt a metaphorical bullet pierce his heart. "That's— no, I– that's not true." He stuttered, but Skeppy continued. "No no, it's fine. Whatever you have you can deal with. You obviously don't trust me enough to tell me. Or you don't care for my opinion."

" _No!_ " Bad yelled. "It's not that! I just, I really can't tell you!"

His friend stayed silent and the blonde felt even worse. Should he just tell him? Would it hurt less to get it over with? "I..."

' _I like you_ ' he tried to say, but his voice wouldn't let him. His throat constricted and he held back a cough. He whined in annoyance, why can't he just say it?

Bad couldn't hold it and the cough came out, as did another. And another. A coughing fit started and he put his mic on mute, quickly leaning over the trash can he pulled up earlier, ' _Thank muffins I did that_ ', and coughed above it.

A few flowers later and he got back up, and the blonde drank from his water bottle. Bad just noticed that Skeppy has been silent the entire time. He unmuted himself. "Sorry about that, there's uh... a lot of pollen in the air–"

"Don't." Skeppy said, and his angry voice made Bad put his head down. "Don't lie to me like that. I understand when you don't want to worry the stream, but it's just us here."

"Sorry Geppy." Bad murmured quietly. His friend stayed silent for a bit, before saying, "I think I should go."

The blonde looked up at his screen wishing he could see his friend. "But why? I thought you wanted to work on the server?"

"I don't feel up to it."

Bad's heart plummeted. It's _his_ fault that his friend felt this way. "I wish I could tell you, about why I'm sick."

Skeppy sighed, "Me too." After exchanging goodbyes they both left the call.

Tears prickled Bad's eyes and he roughly wiped his face with his sleeve. Skeppy had every right to be upset, there's no need to cry!

Except Bad hated when his friend was angry. And he especially didn't like it when the anger was directed at him. Skeppy was rarely ever mad at him, so it made his heart hurt even more. He was almost surprised that no flowers choked him, but he assumed that negative feelings don't summon them. ' _Lucky me_ ,' He thought bitterly.

The blonde male turned off his computer, plugged in his phone, and flopped on his bed before flipping around. He stared up at the ceiling with a hurt expression on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skeppy is butthurt and angsty, don't we all love that?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who commented. Aaa! My heart fills with joy qwq
> 
> I'm unsure if I got everything I wanted into this chapter, but here's an update! Tell me your thoughts or theories of where I'm heading with this in the comments if you'd like :0
> 
> (future apologies if I made any grammar mistakes)

A lot of people online were trying to guess what Bad and his friend's 'project' was. Some connected it to the server Bad blew up— afterall, Skeppy did say that they should rebuild it and said so on stream. But others made conspiracies such as a wedding.

Bad shook his head fondly when he read it. He's been scrolling through twitter, looking at various posts under the ' _Happytwt_ ' hashtag. The tag was about him and Skeppy, what was not to love?

He kept scrolling, seeing the fanart people made. Some were shipping art, which made Bad blush and cough a bit, but thankfully most were platonic. He's glad to have such an amazing fanbase that cares for him and likes his content so much that they draw him, it makes his heart swell just thinking about it.

The blonde sighed. Last night after the stream ended, Skeppy decided to be dramatic and butthurt. ' _He had every right though_ ', he thought bitterly.

He was comfy in a blanket burrito on his bed. Rat was laying next to him, napping soundly as her chest widened and fell. Bad reached over and gave her a few scratches behind the ears. The dog made a soft noise before leaning towards his touch making him chuckle. Bad sighed softly, "Should I just tell him Rat? Would that make everything better?" The dog woofed quietly and went back to sleep. He was unsure what words of wisdom she just spoke.

Bad smiled quickly snapped a picture of her sleeping before tweeting it, and wrote ' _Rat sleeping next to me! So cute owo_ '.

A few people liked it right away, and he made a noise of surprise when Skeppy was one of them. He had his notifications on for Bad? The blonde couldn't help but smile as his chest fluttered. The butterflies turned to stones and fell in his stomach— a sinking feeling in his gut when he remembered what had happened last night.

Bad turned over and cuddled his blanket closer to him. Rat didn't notice and only snuggled further. He sighed, again. He's been sighing depressingly a lot lately.

His phone went off with a ding. Curious, he lifted his phone to see what the noise was from.

' _U wanna play hypixel?_ '

He was double surprised when the text was from Skeppy. When had he learned such proper grammar? Well, proper compared to anything else his friend types. A smile pulls at his lips. He wrote back, ' _Sure! I'll go get ready and be done in about 10 minutes._ '

Rat barked when the blonde sat up, clearly annoyed at being woken up. He smiled. "Sorry Lucy-loo, but I have a game to win."

Competition always made him determined, so with that in mind he hopped out of bed and booted up his computer. He felt like he was forgetting something but brushed the feeling off.

The blonde joined teamspeak and texted Skeppy to join, which he did rather quickly. "Bad!"

He smiled before wincing. "Hey Geppy." He said but without much enthusiasm. He was worried that his friend would be mad at him. Maybe he forgot what happened yesterday? Bad hopes so. Instead they could focus on gaming.

"So uh, about last night." Skeppy stated which made Bad slump in disappointment. Guess he didn't forget, then.

The blonde cleared his throat, ready to speak before Skeppy interrupted. "I wanted to apologize."

_Huh?_

To say Bad was baffled would be an understatement. "I... uh.. what?"

Skeppy sighed, "I'm sorry. You're sick and I tried to make it all about me. I just— I'm worried for you man."

The emotion in his friend's voice made Bad choke up. "No, it's not your fault!" He quickly tried reassuring.

"No no, it is. I should've supported you. Even if you can't tell me why you're sick." His friend mumbled that last bit, but still overall sounded sincere. Bad was silent and unsure how to respond. Skeppy continued, "I'm still mad about it... but I understand."

Bad felt horrible when he realized his friend was still upset, but supported him nonetheless because Skeppy is such a good friend. His throat constricted and he felt the need to cough. He swiftly reached over to grab his water bottle but only grabbed thin air.

An ice cold feeling settled over his body in fear. He drank the last of his water bottle last night. The rest were in the kitchen.

Once the first cough came out he couldn't do anything other than to submit to his fate. His throat was scratchy and sore as he continued coughing, a gross feeling in his throat.

Eyes widened in horror when he couldn't breathe. The flower in his throat was big, bigger than any of the other ones he coughed. He coughed purposely this time trying to expell it out.

The flower was stuck. His lungs burned. It scratched his tounge and made him feel sick. With that thought an idea popped into his head. 

Bad ignored Rat's worried barking as he ran to the bathroom. He almost tripped a few times but finally made it and rushed to the toilet. His nose scrunched in disgust with what he was about to do, but it was either this or die of suffocation.

He shoved his fingers down his throat and forced himself to heave. His body reacted and bile came up his throat. Vision nearly blacked out from no oxygen before he finally puked into the bowl. The large object in his throat came out.

Air filled his lungs almost instantly. His breathing was fast and short, erratic. A fearful realization dawned on him, _'I almost passed out_ '

He quickly spit up the rest of the bile. Looking down he saw the flower that nearly killed him.

A pretty flower, if you ignored the rest of the contents in the bowl alongside it. It had many small blue flowers attached to a large stem, and it was long. How did it even fit in his throat?

He heaved above the toilet bowl. The tiles beneath him were cold and he couldn't recall when he kneeled down. A small woof came from the doorway.

The blonde turned his head to the dog. "Rat." His throat was scratchy and it hurt. But he ignored that when the small dog trotted over and pushed her head onto his lap. She whined with worry.

Bad placed his dry hand atop of her back and slowly pet her soft fur. His breathing slowed and finally evened out. 

"'M sorry for worrying you." He mumbled to her as he held her up to cuddle, and she licked his cheek in reply. He sat there with her for a few minutes before a thought came to him. He stood up quickly and Rat yelped in surprise. ' _Skeppy!_ '

The blonde silently apologized to his dog for scaring her and quickly rinsed off his hands before walking past the kitchen. He grabbed a water bottle from the fridge along the way, wishing he had done that before this whole thing started. He swished some water in his mouth before spitting it out in the sink, cleaning his mouth of any leftover bile.

He paced back to his room and entered before pushing the door so it was only cracked open then walking to his computer. His avatar on screen was still in the hypixel lobby. The blonde picked up his headphones and went to unmute his mic before realizing it wasn't muted in the first place. "Oh..."

"Bad?!" Skeppy exclaimed after Bad spoke. Was he waiting for him? His friend continued, "Are you okay? You sounded like you were choking! And then I heard a shuffling and you were _gone_. I tried calling out for you but you didn't respond!"

"Sorry." Bad said, his voice still scratchy. He took a sip of his water bottle. "I uh..."

He didn't want to lie. Skeppy already would have heard his coughing fit anyways. "I'm okay now. I just... I can't explain it."

"You need to go to the hospital." Skeppy determined. "Like, right now."

Bad sighed, "I don't need to go there, I'm fine—" " _Bad!_ "

He went silent so Skeppy continued, "I know I said I'm okay with you not telling me and all, but you still need help! I'm _worried_ Bad, I care about you. You're my best friend. Stop ignoring your health problems."

Bad's heart clenched. He's sure that if he didn't already puke up a flower earlier he would have now. "The hospital can't fix this."

Skeppy went silent for a bit, before quietly whispering, "...what?" His friend's voice filled with more confidence as he stated, "What are you saying?"

The blonde glanced away from his monitor. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake.

"I know what I have, and the hospital won't be able to fix me. Not unless I get surgery."

" _WHAT?!_ " He winced at Skeppy's shout. "It's that bad and _you didn't even tell me?!_ "

"I'm sorry!" Bad tried to explain himself. "But I can't get the surgery anyways. I'll be fine!"

"Is it money?" Skeppy asked making Bad stare dumbfounded at his monitor. "I can send you money! How much is it? I'll send it over paypal."

"Wait wait wait wait—" Bad quickly rushed out before his friend could send him anything. "It's not the money!" 

"Then what is it?" 

"I- I just... agh!"

Bad didn't know how to explain any of this. He looked over and saw the flowers he coughed up the day prior. Sighing, he picked up his phone and snapped a pic before sending it to Skeppy.

He heard the ding from his friend's phone through the call. A couple seconds of silence before his friend spoke, "What does a flower have to do with this? I mean, it's a nice flower but... still!"

Bad didn't know how to properly explain it. "I... coughed it up.." He cringed at his own sentence.

"What."

"I know I know, it sounds confusing! Just look up the term hanahaki. It's the thing I have."

A few minutes of silence went by, the only sound was Skeppy's typing from the call. The typing stopped and silence ensued again.

The blonde played with the hems of his sweater. Did he make a mistake? Maybe he shouldn't have told him. Worry went through his mind as he curled in on himself.

He didn't like the silence. The blonde heard a click from his friend's mouse. He was probably reading an article about it or something. Bad winced again scratched at the back of his neck. A nervous tick. The silence was finally interrupted by Skeppy. "Who is it."

It was more of a statement than a question. Bad slumped deeper into his chair. "...I dunno." He lied.

Skeppy continued to be silent and Bad started sweating nervously. He wishes Rat was here.

"...okay." His friend finally stated.

"Okay?" Bad questioned. Skeppy continued. "Okay. I can pay for the surgery."

"Wh- Skeppy no! If I get surgery I'll lose feelings for y— th-the person I like!"

"You don't even know who you like!" Skeppy exclaimed. "Either that or you won't tell me."

Bad stayed silent which practically gave Skeppy his answer. "Wow, okay. Fine. It doesn't matter. I'll pay for your surgery either way."

The blonde made a noise of protest, "I'll admit, I know who it is. And yeah, I like the person! I don't want to ruin my feelings for him with some weird surgery."

"Him?"

Bad's heart plummeted. He messed up, didn't he? Anxiety shot threw him but his voice wouldn't cooperate. Skeppy suddenly barked out a laugh. " _That's_ why you were so worried? Bad, I don't care if you like guys. You'll always be my best friend. Gay or not."

He didn't know if he should feel happy or disheartened. Skeppy only saw him as a friend. But he supported him! His throat tightened and he quickly drank more water from the bottle. "Thanks, but I still don't want the surgery."

He heard his friend sputter, "But— why?"

"Because although I know he doesn't like me back, I like him. A lot. And what if I don't like him at all after the surgery? What if I stop caring for him? I don't want to take that chance."

Bad sighed in relief. Finally, he got all that out. His chest felt slightly lighter.

"No!" Skeppy shouted, surprising Bad. "You're just, going to die? For him?!"

The blonde went silent. If he didn't get surgery, then he would die. He would die for having a crush on Skeppy. He could accept that. "Yeah."

"What- no! You don't get to do that! I'm _not_ letting you die, especially over some dude who doesn't like you back!"

Bad winced. He wonders what his friend would say if he knew it was him he liked. He felt selfish for wanting to continue having a crush on Skeppy. "Maybe... my feelings will go away with time?"

Skeppy sighed. "But what if it doesn't? What if it gets worse? Promise me that you'll get the surgery if it gets worse. Promise me you won't die."

Bad knew his friend won't give up on this, and it made his heart clench with pride and hurt with grief. Skeppy cares about him, and his chest fluttered despite the bitter situation. "I promise."

The silence was only semi-awkward, Bad's avatar running around the lobby. They hadn't even started a game yet. Skeppy got his attention, "I was gonna record, but if you're not feeling up to it..."

"Oh!" Bad chuckles, "Yeah, I don't mind. Can you not uh— not mention my sickness to the viewers?"

"I won't." Skeppy promised, and with that they started the video.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a delayed update!! School sucks qwq

Over the course of the next few days a lot of his followers began to worry. Bad's voice has sounded rough and scratchy, and his cough has gotten worse— especially with Skeppy in his streams (which, a lot of the time he was.)

His finger hovered over the send button. Did he really need to do this? The sickness was slowly getting worse. He could feel the vines tugging at his lungs.

' _I'm sad to announce that I'll be taking a break from recording and streaming. Thank you guys for all of your support owo_ '

With a sigh his finger clicked send. After tweeting the message out he put the phone down on top of his nightstand. His house was as silent as it could be, the heater in the living room making a small rumbling noise. 

Small streaks of sunlight came in through the blinds. The sun will set soon. He wonders how Skeppy was doing.

The vines clutching at his lungs began to tighten and Bad frowned. He looked over to the new vase sitting on his computer desk. It was full of blue hyacinths.

He heard a small buzz and curiously glanced over to the noise. The phone lit up, and a notification appeared on the lockscreen. 

' _ **Skeppy :**  
lets paly on teh smop_'

Another ding went off.

' _smp*_ '

Bad shook his head fondly with a small smile on his face. He picked the phone up and responded to his friend. ' _Sure, but I won't be streaming._ ' His friend replies, ' _k_ '

He strolled over to his computer and sat down. Opening up minecraft he got a small notification from discord once again. ' _join ts_ '.

Bad joined the teamspeak. Skeppy immediately greeted him, "Hey Bad!!" Before he could respond another voice interrupted him. "Heeeyy Bad! Wassup?!"

"Quackity?" He asked curiously. "What're you doing here?"

"Me and Skeppy we're just talking about how much you hate him."

Bad gasped, "Noooo! I don't hate him!" He heard both of his friends giggle. One was obvious better sounding than the other— not that he had a preference!

"Well, I hate Bad too!" Skeppy chuckled, and Bad was thankful for the teasing tone he had. He wouldn't know what he would do if Skeppy actually hated him. "Geppy no!"

"Wow." Quackity said seriously. "You guys need marriage counseling."

Bad shouted in retaliation while both Quackity and Skeppy broke down into laughter. A smile tugged at his mouth.

Throughout the stream, which it turns out Quackity was recording, they argued playfully and made a lot of marriage jokes. Bad was not impressed. Skeppy seemed to be enjoying their company, though.

"Hold up, Bad you tweeted out something about a break?" Quackity pondered out loud, and Bad froze for a second. Skeppy laughed, "What? No way." He heard familiar clicks and realized his friend was checking twitter.

Quackity did his signature laugh. "What does this even mean? You're finally quitting youtube?!"

"No!" Bad announced, quick to shoot down that thought. "I'm not quitting at all, I'm just taking a small break."

The man wouldn't give up though. "And why is that?"

Bad sighed. "Because I'm not feeling well, that's all." He realized Skeppy has been quiet throughout this small conversation. His thoughts drifted back to Quackity. "Why did you have my twitter open anyways?"

His comment was ignored. Quackity continued, "Oh so you're sick? Maybe Skeppy could go visit you and help you get better. He could be your maid!" He heard the man wheeze with laughter.

Skeppy suddenly spoke up, "Hey Bad?" He responded with a hum. "Do you like Quackity?"

Bad instantly responded. "Of course! He's my friend." That didn't seem to be the answer Skeppy was searching for. 

"Baaaad, you should get a butler outfit!" Quackity kept going, "You could match with your boyfriend!"

He hummed, "Maybe— wait, what did you say?" Quackity burst out in laughter again. His laughter sped up, "He confirmed it folks! Skephalo confirmed!!"

Bad sighed in disappointment as Quackity wheezed loudly. He ran around the SMP map, using his trident to shoot his avatar into the sky from water. The blonde reached over on his desk to grab his water bottle, taking a slow sip from it. A private message shows up at the bottom of his monitor screen.

' _Skeppy whispers to you: Are the flowers for him?_ '

Immediately he choked on the water, hearing in the background his friends' concern. Bad coughed, and was thankful he nor Skeppy was streaming. His fans would be so confused from his reaction. "Yooo Bad, the thought of Skeppy in a maid dress got you all hot and bothered?!"

"Quackiitttyyy!!" Bad whined. He remembered that Quackity was streaming, and was thankful he couldn't see the private messages. The man in question laughed even louder. Totally unaware of the other two men's inner struggles. Bad quickly typed back to Skeppy via minecraft chat, _'No they are not_ '

Skeppy huffed in defiance. Did he not believe him? Bad didn't know how to prove him wrong without hinting to the viewers from Quackity's stream that he's actually really sick, or even worse, that he has hanahaki.

"I thought you were taking a break," Quackity said, "Does it even count as a break if you're on my stream?"

Bad cleared his throat. "I'm taking a break from streaming, but I don't mind being in other people's streams." He said with a smile.

"Wooooow, _'other people'_? Is that all I am to you?"

"Wh— no! Of course not!" Bad quickly corrected Quackity. "You're my friend."

Skeppy finally spoke up, "Do you see Bad as a friend, Quackity?"

Bad narrowed his eyes at the screen. What was his friend doing? He feels like he's being left out of a plot scheme. He hears Quackity chuckle on the call, "Hmmmm... nope!"

The blonde made a noise of hurt. "Oh." He said in disappointment. On instinct his shoulders dropped, a sad expression on his face.

"He's my _best_ friend!" Quackity interjects. Bad hums in confusion. The man kept going, "Bad, we're best friends right??"

He paused. "Well... I think you're a good friend?"

Quackity's playful voice became serious and deep. "We're best friends." Bad sighed, and replied back. "Okay Quackity, we're best friends."

The man whooped in joy and Bad shook his head in disappointment. Quackity yelled, "Heeeey Skeppy! Bad likes me more than you! Me and Bad are practically married at this point!"

The blonde facepalmed. Before he could reply, Skeppy answered before him. "Maybe he does."

Bad jolted in surprise. "Wait what?" He asked instantly. What was Skeppy getting at? Quackity burst out in laughter, but Bad didn't feel humorous at all. In fact, he felt like a rock was in his stomach.

"You guys would be cute together." Skeppy said. Bad's heart plummeted. What does that even mean? Surely his friend was joking. But his tone wasn't entirely sarcastic, it sounded genuine and a tad disappointed.

Quackity took it in stride. "Hell yeah we would! I'm cute with everyone. Wait no, scratch that, I'm _sexy_ with everyone."

"Language!" Bad interrupted, but wasn't overall surprised. "Aren't you with Sapnap and Karl anyways?"

He heard Quackity choke and sputter. "U—uh, yeah! Well, I mean... Anyways let's change the subject!"

Of course he would, silly Quackity. He smiled at the thought. Skeppy continued on though, "I would support you guys, just saying."

"Aweee." "Ewww!" Bad awed as Quackity ew'd at the same time. The blonde's chest tightened. Even though he doesn't like Quackity, the thought of Skeppy supporting him no matter what made him feel all fluttery and happy.

The butterflies in his stomach swirled and his throat tightened. He let out a cough on instinct and regretted it immediately. Bad swiftly muted his mic as he kept coughing. A small petal was in the back of his throat making him gag. The blonde reached over to the trash bin under his desk and pulled it out. He heaved over it, coughing out a few blue petals.

Bad lost track of time but ended up coughing at least five blue petals and a small but still long stick. He hopes it didn't scratch his throat or hurt him.

He heard muffled voices and realized his headphones were dangling off the desk by it's wire. He quickly put it back on and unmuted his microphone.

"—nd I'm thinking about flying over to visit Bad."

"Skeppy?" Bad asked curiously, thankful that his voice wasn't too scratchy. He took another sip of water just in case. Skeppy startled, "Oh hey Bad! Everything alright?"

Bad's heart clenched at his friend's worried tone. "Yeah, uh, Rat called me. Did you say something about visiting me?"

Quackity laughed, "He kept saying about how he'll finally visit you, but I doubt you'd even agree to it. You hate Skeppy so much that you never let him visit you."

"Not true!" Bad exclaimed, and was about to continue on until a realization dawned on him. Did Skeppy _distract Quackity_ , so the male wouldn't notice his coughing fit? He felt a wave of pride overcome him. He mentally notes to thank Skeppy later. "I could never hate Geppy."

"Oh yeah?" Quackity chuckled. "Then do you love him?"

Bad's throat tightened again and he quickly chugged his water before another coughing fit could start up. He tried to say yes, that he does love Skeppy, but his throat and chest tightened painfully every time he attempted to do so. "He's my best friend." He finally answers.

Quackity sucked a breath of air in. "Ouch, that must hurt." Bad tilted his head in confusion.

An hour passed as the trio kept talking, but Quackity had to end his stream. Afterwards they said their goodbyes and Quackity left the teamspeak. Him and Skeppy were alone now. After a long moment of silence, his friend finally spoke up.

"Why him?"

"Huh?" Bad questioned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Skeppy argued, "Yeah you do! I just can't understand why you'd like _him_ of all people."

Bad tilted his head in even more confusion. Skeppy kept going, "You can do so much better than him. Get the surgery, he doesn't even like you back."

The puzzle piece clicked into place in his mind. "Skeppy, I don't like him like that! He's nice, sure, but I have feelings for... for someone else."

"Bullshit!" Skeppy exclaimed, and Bad forced himself not to say language. "You started coughing mid stream after I mentioned it! How many flowers did you puke up for him?!"

Bad couldn't pinpoint the emotion in Skeppy's voice. He sounded angry, disappointed maybe, and a slight bit of hurt. Was he offended? Bad didn't even like Quackity that way!

"I don't like him. And no, it wasn't so bad I coughed up flowers." _Like last time_ , went unsaid. "It was only a few petals."

"A few petals?" Skeppy asked skeptically, and Bad curled in on himself. 

"And a stick." He mumbled, but Skeppy heard it anyways and shouted, "A stick?! Are you okay? Do you have splinters in your throat??"

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Bad reassured. Though he wasn't sure if he had splinters in his throat or not. Truthfully, it hadn't even crossed his mind. 

Skeppy groaned. "He isn't worth you getting hurt."

"It's not him!" Bad argued.

"Then who?" His friend questioned. "Who's worth getting you hurt?"

"I..." Bad stuttered. "I can't tell you."

Skeppy huffed in annoyance. "Ok fine whatever." Bad's heart clenched painfully at his friend's annoyed tone. Skeppy continued, "How bad is it?"

He didn't understand at first but quickly realized. "The cough? It's erm, it's okay."

"It's been getting worse." Skeppy noted. Bad scoffed, how would he know? Was he just guessing?

"You wouldn't have taken a break otherwise."

Oh. That. Yeah, that makes sense. Skeppy's smart like that. He's able to figure things out so quickly with barely any help. Bad's chest flutters and a small cough came up his throat.

Bad chugged more water and swallowed down any petals that were coming up. He'd have to deal with them at a later time.

"See! You're already coughing again." Skeppy explained. "You know what— I'm booking a flight over there."

"Huh??" Bad exclaimed. "No no no, you're not serious."

"I am!" Skeppy argued. He went silent and Bad heard clicks of a keyboard. A chill went up his spine when he realized that his friend might be serious.

"I'm fine Geppy. A flight is too much of a hassle, plus my house is a mess!" Bad made excuses.

"I don't care." Skeppy said defiantly. "Aaaand done. I bought the soonest ticket, I'll be there Saturday."

Bad did the math in his head. "Saturday?! But... that's only 3 days away!"

A pit of dread formed in his stomach. He isn't ready for a meet up. He doesn't think he'll ever be ready. Skeppy interrupted his thoughts, "Too late. I gotta go pack up now, it's like really late over there so you should sleep."

"Hey wait—!" Bad yelled, but Skeppy already left the teamspeak. He sighed and left the teamspeak as well, shutting down his computer and flopping onto his bed. Skeppy sounded so determined.

Bad wasn't sure what he should do. His friend sounded serious. He should fix up the guest bedroom tomorrow, and throw away the small blue flower petals laying around the house.

As Bad drifted off to sleep, he subconsciously realized that his sickness would triple worsen when Skeppy did arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo guys should Skeppy have blue hair in this--


End file.
